The fifth film in the Ice Age franchise collides on-screen after the events of the Continental Drift. “Ice Age: Collision Course” puts us front and center with Scrat’s (Chris Wedge) epic pursuit of his elusive acorn catapulting him outside of Earth, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the planet. To save themselves from peril, Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), Diego (Denis Leary), and the rest of the herd leave their home and embark on a quest full of thrills and spills, highs and lows, laughter and adventure while traveling to exotic new lands and encountering a host of colorful new characters, including the flamboyantly energetic Shangri Llama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), the leader of Geotopia, who finds himself at a crossroads with the plan of our group of protagonists. “Ice Age: Collision Course” is directed by Mike Thurmeier and Galen T. Chu, and is rated PG for mild rude humor and some devastating action/peril.
It’s amazing to think that this series has gone on now for five films, and “Collision Course” certainly enlightens us to just how tightly the creative strings for this series are being pulled at this point. Clocking in at barely 80 minutes, the movie scrapes the barrel for the bare minimum of historical events to use at this point. A lot of this movie was already explained and hinted at in the original “Ice Age”, an immensely greater film than the leftovers that we are left with here. I know that I shouldn’t be complaining about historical inaccuracies in an animated kids film, but shouldn’t it be our children who we teach about plausibility in the first place? If your child learns anything from this movie, they will surely be laughed out of a classroom someday. Besides combining modern aspects like hashtags and music of the last decade, the movie’s ending teaches them nothing about the impacts of meteor showers and how dangerous they can be. Nothing here ever feels honest with its audience, and I think a lot of that has to do with two main plots that split the screen time because neither has enough to fill even the narrowest of run times.
In addition to the extinction of the Ice Age, the film’s subplot includes Manny’s family being pulled apart with the marriage of his daughter Peaches (Voiced by Keke Palmer) and her fiance Julian (Voiced by Adam DeVine), as well as the loss of love for Sid after a dirty break-up. The biggest problem here is two plots that are both easily telegraphed from the movie’s opening scenes with their characters. Since this is a series of movies that rarely ever takes a chance on anything, it makes this one an extremely predictable affair, complete with every obstacle neatly tucked away by the end of the movie. On top of this, there really isn’t any notable voice work here, and that is rare for any animated film. There are simply too many characters by this point in the series, and very little for anybody to do. No one character ever really takes charge among the ever-changing backdrops and themes that this movie goes through. One of the best ensemble casts of the year are wasted and left like their movie characters; to just stand around and wait for the worst to happen. There is a trio of antagonists for the movie, but they are given maybe eight minutes total of screen time for the entirety, and then kind of held on pause because the movie has so little for them. Their finale is made even more disappointing, considering they make a 180 degree turn in character motivation just to appeal even more to a predictable premise.
The comedic material goes to the well too many times for similar set-up in jokes. I feel like in addition to being an inaccurate history lesson, the movie is also very insulting to kids for just how dumb they treat them. My favorite aspect with kids movies, especially in 2016, is that they are treated like small adults who the studios have a sense of understanding and belief in to give them something more beneath the story. This movie riddles itself in soundboard noises and silly vocal work that always feels distracting to the central plot and continuity of the movie’s flow. Its material lacks any kind of charm, and that’s a huge concern during an age when so many movies are adapting with deeper characters and creative methods of keeping their storylines fresh. “Collision Course” would much rather play it at the same tempo, and it felt evident just how little this series has left to offer.
The animation is pretty solid, minus some mouth work for the wholly mammals that they still haven’t gotten quite in-sync. Whenever they say a three syllable or higher word, their mouth work doesn’t look believable with what is coming out. As for the backgrounds and character design, everything here is given the traditional Blue Sky Studios look, without any real sacrifice. The scenes involving the Geotopia and its creatures was a welcome addition to the tired settings that we have gotten for five films now. The color palate here is quite satisfying, with a contrasting glow of light pinks and yellow colors that are very accurate with the name of such a paradise. This was not only the best part of the movie for me for stunning visual entrancement, but also the only part of the movie where there feels like any kind of imminent danger for our protagonists. It makes for a solid final fifteen minutes of the film, but the investment over disappointing and dull aspects by the dozen is a big sacrifice to get to such a small payoff.
“Ice Age: Collision Course” blazes a fast-moving trail into the wall of halting momentum for a 4th sequel that inherits the worst in any children’s movie. It’s predictable, insulting, and even dull for a movie that doesn’t have enough faith in its material to squeeze out an hour-and-a-half. This series will hopefully go out with this insufferable bang, and all characters involved will vanish in extinction.